What’s our last day to place an order before the Chinese New Year shutdown?

We've been getting more than a few questions about the latest order deadlines before Chinese New Year (CNY). We’ve connected with over 300 of our factory partners, and our Shenzhen team is deep in the halls of the Canton Fair in Guangdong, gathering the latest intel on cutoffs.

In the world of overseas sourcing and manufacturing, the real deadline to begin production is December 1st. This gives factories the entirety of December to complete orders before shutting down for CNY. Keep in mind: unless an order is over 1,000 units, it likely won’t make the cut; smaller orders don’t get the time of day during this peak season.

It’s also worth noting, in the lead-up to CNY, many workers start heading home early—often two to three weeks before the official holiday—since a good portion live outside the main cities. This year, CNY starts on January 29th and runs through February 2nd, but while the holiday may technically end in early February, production staff won’t fully return until the first week of March. Office staff will trickle back in sooner, so we might manage quoting and sampling by February.

So here’s the bottom line: to be in the game, submit a PO by December 1st. Factories will prioritize larger, straightforward orders over custom smaller batches. Realistically, production won’t pick back up until March, which means we’re looking at early summer for delivery.

This timeline may not be ideal, but from December 1st to March 1st, new orders are largely off the table—though quoting and sampling can proceed. Occasionally, a factory might pull off a quicker turnaround, but it’s rare.